Sites like Maw Books and My Friend Amy are incredibly well put together and they clearly put a lot of work into blogging and improving our community, but I rarely feel compelled to leave comments on their blogs as they seem to have a different taste in books to me.

I currently have 22 blogs in my favourites folder in google reader, but most of them aren’t well known blogs. They don’t have hundreds of comments on every post, fancy blog designs or hundreds of book giveaways each month, but what they do have is great taste in books and the ability to persuade me to part with my cash!

I thought long and hard about who to nominate as my favourite blog and decided that it should be the person who has caused me to buy the most books in the last year, and that is Diane from Bibliophile by the Sea.

I’m not sure it’s really possible to decide who has the best blog, as it is such a personal choice. I would love to know how many different blogs were nominated for this category and how they decide on the short list.

I then discovered there were 40 other categories to provide nominations for. I wasn’t prepared for that at all! I soon discovered that my blog reading falls into a very narrow field – I couldn’t even name a romance blog!

Some categories I found really easy, but there were a lot I really struggled with.

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I haven’t gone through this exercise yet…I was intimidated! And I want to put the time into really thinking about it. I’m with you…there are some of these nominations I will not be able fill out. Romance blogs? I don’t think so. Anyway, I am at my parents house and will be until the 27th, and it is really hard for me to focus here (plus the Internet isn’t all that great). I will have to sit down and put pen to paper when I get home. It isn’t going to be easy, but I know that you will be on my nominations somewhere!

I left a few of them blank, as I really couldn’t think of a blogger that would fill that category. And as for who to pick…I just went with my personal favourites. This is all subjective anyway, so I might as well embrace my biases!

This sounds like a great event! I wasn’t blogging last year, so this is all new to me – can’t imagine choosing a favorite blog. There are so many great ones out there! Diane has certainly caused me to buy a book or two…but then, so have you

I also left categories blank if I couldn’t pretty quickly come up with a blog that fit. Like you, Jackie, I’ve found that most of my favorites don’t have a particularly high profile, but I nominated them anyway. They’re my favorites, and I think they deserve a pat on the back! (As Nymeth says, it’s all subjective.) The most difficult thing was making sure that I found a place to nominate each of my very top favorites, and I know I ended up leaving a few folks out. I’m crossing my fingers that someone else thinks of them.

Yes, noms were difficult and I know that a few of my favorites are ‘off the path’ but that’s what makes it fun! It will highlight everyone, I’m sure. Good to know that you are a newbie – I didn’t realize that!!! I will have to add you to my ‘best new blogs’ nominations.

I saw your tweet and had to come and read your post! I agree with your sentiments that it is a hard choice to choose a best blog for each category. I think that so many of us are unique and different in our own ways and have different followers. I think that everyone has to get out there and vote to have their voice heard as to who their favorite blogs are. I had to leave a few blank as well as I don’t follow Romance blogs or Sci Fi.

I don’t know any Sci-fi blogs either. I think it is going to be really hard to short list blogs as every blog will appeal to a different cirlce of people – I don’t envy the judges. Thanks for the retweet!

It is hard! (And um wow – thanks for your kind compliment about mine). Like you, I think that we all connect with other blogs who have similar reading tastes as ourselves. There are a few that I’ll be leaving blank as well because I don’t follow the genre enough. I haven’t made my nominations yet myself because it’s going to be hard to narrow down which ones I enjoy the most.

I just wanted to let you know that I appreiciate your blog and would love to comment more, but don’t have anything constructive to add. It isn’t a reflection on the quality – just a difference of reading tastes.

I love this post !You’re right, picking a best blog is a matter of personal choice. I don’t think your blog reading is narrow because you couldn’t pick a romance blog. I couldn’t either though I did fill in almost every other category.

I think my blog reading is getting narrower every day! I am discovering the type of blog I do enjoy reading/spending time commenting on, and so am slowly reducing the number of blogs I read – yours is one of the ones I enjoy.

Diane is detrimental to my book budget too!! I left some categories blank. Like you, I don’t read a lot of romance, so I didn’t feel qualified to judge. It was difficult for sure. I also had 3 write-in categories. I used a variety of criteria to make each decision.

I tried to use a variety of criteria to judge best blog, but when I started trying to weigh up the number of times I am compelled to comment against the layout of the site and the quality of the writing there were about 5 blogs equal at the top! Using number of times I bought a book was the only way I could single a blog out I do still think about the other blogs which nearly made it – at least they all got nominated somewhere on the list!

I haven’t finished picking mine yet. I keep going through my Reader and trying to decided which category for the first part since I can only pick one! I keep trying to figure out about the “genre blogs”. None of the blogs I love really fit into such a narrow niche, but I will still pick something. I will have nothing for romance, either, as I do not read the genre. I think the hardest category will be ‘best feature on a blog’. I have too many!

I totally agree that it’s hard to pick and ends up being subjective. Last year (and no offense to the winners, all great blogs) it was all over the place because I just went with the flow. That’s why we’re trying panels this year…so that maybe some lesser known blogs with great content can get extra recognition.

I do hope that book bloggers of all all genres feel welcome and that we can appreciate each other for the work we do even if we don’t normally read each other’s blogs…it’s kind of a chance to unite and bond.

I do read a lot of romance blogs even though I don’t read a lot of romance actually. They have a tight community and and some fantastic content.

I also hope to learn of some new blogs in areas like graphic novels.

Anyway…I hope you enjoy the week…..I met so many bloggers doing it last year! And you are always always always welcome to leave comments on my blog even though I know it’s not always cooperative.

I think going with personal preferences and favorites is the right way to go. I think the big blogs are the ones that will end up winning, just because they have the most readers to go and vote, but that doesn’t change the fact that we can each have our personal favorites.

I too don’t read “genre” blogs. I best like the blogs that read lots of different things, so “genre” blogs are not a favorite for me.

I think you are right about the bigger blogs winning. I think it is a shame as I’m sure that there are a lot of niche blogs out there doing a great job, but as people won’t have heard of them they won’t get the votes.

I still need to do my nominations – and I agree that it is very hard! I read over 100 blogs semi-regularly…but most of them are in the categories of genres I read. So I don’t read any romance blogs either.

So true. I love a couple of romance blogs I read regularly but these are the only ones I know of. And I might check out others, but ultimately my vote will go for whichever blog I’m comfortable with and whos reading taste mirrors mine. But I guess thats the way its going to be with everyone.

I nominated you too – although I was really torn between which category it would be for. In the end I can’t remember which one I went for! I made sure all my favourites were on the list somewhere though!

I haven’t gone through all the categories yet, but I’ll be nominating your for the new blogger. I did not participate in last years BBAW (I was still trying to get comfortable with mine) , so I really don’t have any idea who’s new and old.

I’m just discovering this BBAW too and I’m so excited. It sounds like fun and I’m looking forward to finding new book blogs to read. I know what you mean … I often find blogs that don’t seem to like the same types of books as me so I don’t necessarily read them for the reviews but more for their others type posts. Some I’ve found that I trust so I’ll read their reviews. It is a very personal thing. Some bloggers are such good writers that I enjoy reading them no matter what they are talking about. Once I started looking at the categories, I realized there is probably a spot for everyone!

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Note: All books on this blog are rated on a five star system according to how much I enjoyed them. The ratings are not an indication of writing quality nor how enjoyable you may find reading them.
I am notoriously fussy in my reading tastes, so the star rating will only help if you have a similar reading taste to mine. I tend to abandon books I am not enjoying.